AKA would like to announce two new products developed for the 1:8 Buggy IFMAR World Championship next month. Our first new product is our IMPACT buggy tire. The IMPACT tire features a dense small square lug pattern with offset lug rows in the center of the tire to deliver maximum forward traction and good wear characteristics. The two outer rows of lugs are parallel to create a circumferential groove at the edge of the tire to give the tire very predicable side bite. This allows the car to rotate in the center of the turn while still feeling very stable and predictable. The IMPACT is built on AKA’s latest carcass design featured on our ENDURO and WISHBONE tires. The IMPACT will be available in all of AKA’s proprietary compounds from super soft to hard with and without inserts. The IMPACT tire will start shipping in mid-November.

Our second product announcement is the all new EVO buggy wheel. From the brains of Mark Pavidis and Gil Losi comes a complete redesign of the AKA buggy wheel. Now that AKA’s closed cell foams have become a part of everyone’s product line it became apparent to us that all the current wheels are too soft compared to the now stiffer inserts and the ever increasing G forces of modern 1:8 buggy chassis. The goal was to achieve a stiffer wheel without sacrificing weight or durability. Mark and Gil were able to reach this goal by first changing the face of the wheel from convex to concave. This design change helps the EVO wheel deal with the ever increasing G-loads of a modern 1:8 buggy without distortion of the face of the wheel. Next they were able to kill two birds with one stone by developing an optional internal dish which serves two purposes. The first and most important purpose is to further stiffen the wheel and especially help the inner most bead of the wheel hold it’s shape. The second purpose of this dish is to block dirt from being trapped within the inner ribbing of the wheel and throwing the wheel out of balance. These design innovations allowed the wheel to be stiffer without going to stiffer and therefore more brittle plastic or increasing wall thickness which gives up clearance and adds weight at the outer edge of the wheel. The advantage of the stiffer EVO wheel shows up immediately on rough tracks, high bite tracks, tracks with large jumps and tracks with high speed sections. The EVO wheel will be available in both white and yellow and is still made from the super durable AKA nylon that current AKA customers are used to. The inner wheel stiffeners are available separately in sets of four in both white and yellow and are removable and transferable from set to set. The EVO wheel can be used without the inner stiffener, but we know once you use the stiffeners, you won’t want to go back. The EVO wheel will be available mid-November.

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Bringing you RC product news you can use on a daily basis as Car Action's Online News Editor. I have been heavily involved in RC since the late 90's, plus a diverse background that includes print and broadcast journalism, engineering, information technology, direct marketing, and even banking. Currently I enjoy racing 1/10 electric off-road, covering large race events, and spending time with my family when away from the track.